ABUJA – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it has received 117 fresh applications from associations seeking registration as political parties, out of which only 14 have met the requirements to proceed to the next stage.
Mr. Sam Olumekun, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, disclosed this in a statement issued after the commission’s regular meeting on Thursday in Abuja.
He said that 103 associations failed to meet the initial requirements set out in the Constitution, Electoral Act and INEC’s guidelines.
The 14 associations that scaled through include the African Transformation Party (ATP), All Democratic Alliance (ADA), Advance Nigeria Congress (ANC), Abundance Social Party (ASP), African Alliance Party (AAP), Citizens Democratic Alliance (CDA) and Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA).
Others are Grassroots Initiative Party (GRIP), Green Future Party (GFP), Liberation People’s Party (LPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), National Reform Party (NRP), Patriotic Peoples Alliance (PPA) and Peoples Freedom Party (PFP).
Olumekun explained that each application was assessed for compliance with Section 222 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Section 79 (1, 2 and 4) of the Electoral Act 2022 and Clause 2 (i and ii) of INEC’s 2022 Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties.
He said the Commission would officially communicate its decision to all applicants within 24 hours and has published the list of 14 pre-qualified associations on its website and other official platforms.
Interim chairmen and secretaries of the pre-qualified associations have also been invited to a briefing on Wednesday, September 17, at 11 a.m. at INEC headquarters in Abuja.
Olumekun stressed that INEC would physically verify all claims made by the associations before taking a final decision on their registrability.
“Party registration is a continuous process under the law, and the Commission remains open to the consideration of applications that meet the criteria,” he said.
He added that the Commission also reviewed its preparations for the forthcoming off-cycle governorship elections and the end-of-tenure Area Council Election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
